


Among the Stars

by greygerbil



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, First Kiss, M/M, first time sleeping together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:15:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27962879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greygerbil/pseuds/greygerbil
Summary: Of all the places he has visited in the new cycle, Javik most likes being in Shepard's room.
Relationships: Javik/Male Shepard (Mass Effect)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29
Collections: Mistletoe Exchange 2020





	Among the Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [barbex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/barbex/gifts).



Javik’s favourite spot on the Normandy, and perhaps in the new cycle altogether, was Shepard’s room.

It laid perpetually in a cool blue light emanating from the broad fish tank on the left-hand side and models of space ships sat in slim display cabinets over the desk. Just these two details separated it from any other commander’s cabin he’d ever visited or lived in. Such touches of personality hadn’t been allowed in Javik’s time, being both a waste of resources and a distraction.

“With all these frivolities, your room looks like it belongs to a pirate captain,” he’d told Shepard once, turning a model of an asari ship in his hands.

Shepard had laughed. “There’s barely anything in here!”

And that was right, too, from Shepard’s perspective. The new cycle had fallen so quickly to the Reapers that abundance was still known. A few toys and fishes weren’t considered outrageous luxuries and obviously, they had not diverted Shepard from his task, so maybe Javik’s people had been wrong on that account – and in truth, seeing Shepard unite a galaxy through alliances where Protheans had failed with their empire that had drawn everyone close by force made Javik wonder if they had been wrong about quite a few other things, too.

Javik did enjoy the odd trappings and what they stood for, but it took a while to confess to himself that what he really liked about the room was to have Shepard all around him. He could feel him on the walls, on the cushions of the sofa, on the model ships, all the places he had touched and imbued with traces of his firm character, his fears, his wishes, his nightmares, his ambitions, that Javik saw not as words, but felt in hues of emotion, making up the shape of one remarkable man. His presence permeated the room and embraced Javik when he sat to talk with him here.

Then, of course, there was the man himself in the flesh.

At first, they spoke mostly of battles they had fought, strategy, the minutiae of warfare as they differed and compared. They were familiar, comfortable topics to them both. However, Shepard had a talent for unearthing details from Javik that had nothing to do with struggle. Just as Shepard had helped him piece his memory back together with the shard, it felt like he helped Javik retrieve the moments of peace which sat between the terrible battles and strife that loomed so much larger in his mind. Shepard did this not by questioning him, but by offering up stories of his own past, of friendships forged and companions won, of growing up on ships, of his parents and fellow soldiers; and as Javik sought to match them in the natural flow of conversation, he more and more became Javik around Shepard, not the avatar of vengeance returned only to let the Protheans fight and die one last time.

Shepard was friends with most of his subordinates, but no other crew mate spent as much time in this room as Javik as far as he could tell, no one else followed Shepard on every mission, Shepard did not grasp their arms and shoulder like he did with Javik when he stood close, didn’t let his gaze linger on them so long.

There was one answer as to why it was different between them, though the details of that laid anywhere between pure carnal desire and deep attachment. Javik had often turned it in his head, not sure what to do with either end of it, fascinated, scared, too.

One night by standard time, Javik sat on Shepard’s couch again, listening to an account of his early career while dragging his fingers over the glass containing a sweet, heated drink Shepard handed him, sensing the ghost-touch of Shepard’s own fingers there.

“Are your hands cold?” Shepard asked, interrupting himself. “I can turn up the heat.”

It would have been easy to simply say yes.

“Your touch on the glass distracted me.”

He went for the truth instead, watching Shepard closely.

Shepard raised a brow. There were faint red lines in his face, embers in his eyes. Javik liked them. Shepard had told him they were caused by stress, that if he were nicer, they might disappear fully, but who had the opportunity? Javik didn’t think those marks spoke ill of him. The harshness that underpinned his diplomacy could trick inattentive people into thinking he was cruel, but it was often this which allowed him to set the path for a peaceful resolution. If he could shout and threaten someone into submission, he didn’t have to convince them with the sight of their own blood.

“I guess I should wear gloves around you. I keep forgetting about your extra senses. Must be confusing.”

“No, Protheans are adapted to it. It would be odd if you were not present on your own belongings.” He paused, but not long enough to stop himself from adding something foolish: “I enjoy feeling you there.”

Shepard laid his head to the side, an inquisitive gesture in humans much like it was in Protheans.

“If you like feeling me, wouldn’t it be easier to just touch me instead?”

Javik lifted the glass to his lips and sipped the hot drink. He wasn’t surprised that Shepard had made a move. He’d provoked it, after all. His stomach still fluttered nervously.

“If I did, I wonder if what might come after tonight would really be easier,” he said.

Shepard gave a quiet laugh and shook his head, took a gulp of his own drink. “Yeah, me too.”

They sat in a silence that was oddly comfortable despite the idea suddenly between them. Perhaps it had already been there for a while.

“When is the last time you did something that was easy?” Shepard asked.

Javik gave a wry smile.

Of course, he did not try to avoid what was difficult, he was just cowardly about what could hurt. He’d already lost an entire people, and thanks to Shepard he now remembered every one of the faces of those who had been closest to him. Could he survive losing again? But one of the things he loved about Shepard was that around him, the hope that it might not come to that did not feel quite so foolish.

Besides, they’d chosen Vengeance to be reckless and brave so he could dash himself against their enemies if need be. It was not in his nature to be skittish.

Javik put the glass down and turned to Shepard with his whole body. Shepard grabbed him by the back of the neck and kissed him on the mouth.

The shock of such a crass advance mixed with an undeniable bolt of pleasure. Javik held on to Shepard’s shoulders, shivering at the press of his tongue against his lips, yielding to it. Shepard held him for a long moment before they broke apart, his mouth searing hot on Javik’s.

“You’re very forward,” Javik noted, unable to keep the embarrassment out of his voice.

It had been a long time, even subtracting the years he had not been awake for, since a man had last blindsided him like this. He should have disliked it more.

“Really? I thought it was going that way,” Shepard said, earnestly confused.

Javik stopped himself. “When do humans kiss on the mouth?” he asked.

“Their lovers? For a lot of reasons. When do Protheans?” 

“Rarely... and if they do, they are – were – usually undressed and joined already.”

There were now not enough Protheans left to engage in such activity with each other, Javik reminded himself. 

Shepard’s brows shot up. “Wow. Kissing on the mouth is usually how humans start off sex or romance. General gesture of affection, you know?” He looked Javik up and down. “So what would you do?”

Javik picked up Shepard’s hand with both of his, unfolded it, and kissed his palm. He felt the lines and calluses of it, the warmth, the quiet muddle of emotion. His lips moved slowly up his fingers to his fingertips. Were he Prothean, Shepard now could have touch-read Javik’s emotions perfectly, as the fingertips best suited for this endeavour, though every part of their body could do it to some extent. To Shepard, the touch was mute, but Javik began to feel joy-lust-warmth like sparks between them, a trickling sensation that spread through Shepard until it drowned out all others.

Javik let Shepard’s hand sink into his own lap.

“Not bad either,” Shepard decided. “If it’s awkward, I can stop kissing you on the mouth for now.”

Javik felt his tongue dart out, a reflex, as if he could still taste Shepard on his lips. His touch lingered there, but it was not enough.

“Now you’ve already started,” he said.

Shepard chuckled, a rough sound in the back of his throat that Javik had always liked.

“Good,” he said, lifting his thumb to Javik’s mouth and dragging it over his bottom lip. “You have a very pretty mouth. It’d be a shame not to get to kiss it.”

Javik let him when Shepard leaned in. One had to bow to certain customs of the primitives when one lived among them. That he desperately wanted Shepard’s mouth on his own again after getting to try it was perhaps a factor, too.

Shepard wore a soft civilian outfit: a white shirt, trousers made of some rougher fabric still thin enough to tear, a stiff leather jacket with the N7 logo, the meaning of which Javik had only grasped after he had listened to Shepard’s stories of the elite unit. They would be easy enough to get rid of if need be, but Shepard’s hands wandered somewhat aimlessly over the intricate parts of Javik’s armour, pushing into joints and gliding over the smooth black mesh.

“How do you get in and out of that thing?” Shepard muttered against his mouth.

Javik smirked, reaching behind himself. With a few quick pushes on the clasps that were hidden under the plating, his armour fell apart, from the shoulders down to the skirt that protected his thighs.

“You’ll have to teach me how to do that,” Shepard said.

Implying _we will do this again_. Javik did not object.

He peeled off the mesh, too, as it covered him neck to toes and was still thick enough to count as armour in itself, would have dulled Shepard’s touches and deprive him of the pleasure of feeling Shepard’s presence over his body. Shepard took off his own jacket, but stalled there, transfixed by Javik uncovering himself, and Javik figured there was no reason to be shy now when he’d already allowed Shepard to kiss him on the mouth.

Shepard’s eyes widened when Javik shook out his wings, which were stiff after being folded under his armour for so long.

“Where did those come from?”

“One would think they are attached,” Javik sneered, though he could not put too much sarcasm in his voice when Shepard’s gaze was wandering with so much admiration over the translucent shape of them.

“Very funny. Can you fly or are they holdovers?”

“I can fly, and for my ancestors I’m sure it was an advantage on the hunt. In a gun fight, it usually just makes you a target. You may have seen some of the Collectors do it to drop in from heights, though.”

“True. Just never figured you had any.”

“I just don’t find them useful in combat.”

And until now, he had not taken his armour off in front of anyone. He’d only existed in this cycle to fight.

Shepard reached out his hand and Javik took it, allowed Shepard to pull him into his lap and straddled his thighs. Javik’s half-hard cock pressed against the soft fabric of Shepard’s shirt.

“You’re light.”

“It would be difficult to fly if I weren’t.”

Javik placed his hands under Shepard’s shirt, pulled it over his head. Shepard let him, reached out, stopped.

“Can I touch them?”

“Carefully,” Javik allowed.

Most people would not have been allowed, but Javik knew that though Shepard was strong, he did not employ that force without care. His fingers ran over the translucent membranes and though his wings were without feeling, Javik found himself having trouble sitting still, nerves alight as Shepard studied the most delicate part of his body.

Shepard lingered there for a moment, but when Javik grasped him by the sides, he dropped his hands to pull him closer. With interest, Javik dragged his fingers through the soft hair that grew on his arms and chest.

“I never realised you had fur,” he pointed out.

Shepard snickered and kissed him on the mouth again, which made Javik abandon careful exploration in favour of a firmer grip on him. When he broke the kiss, Shepard shoved a hand between them, opened his trousers to reveal his cock, which was already flush and hard, too. It looked similar enough to Javik’s that he knew what to do.

Javik grabbed both their cocks in his hand and stroked them quickly, making no secret of his impatience. Shepard gritted his teeth. His fingertips dug deeply into Javik’s backside, hauling him in even closer, and skin on skin Shepard’s lust mingled with Javik’s own, stoking it further.

He was concentrated on the sight of their cocks, so much so that though he saw Shepard lift his free hand to his mouth from the corner of his eye, he didn’t think to ask why. When Shepard reached around with that hand to pull aside his cheek and tease his hole with two spit-wet fingers, Javik gave a low, pleased growl.

“I take it that works for Protheans, too?” Shepard asked smugly.

“You won’t know until you try more than prodding, will you?”

Javik wrapped his arm around Shepard’s neck and made his grip around their cocks more firm in hopes of spurring Shepard on. He left Javik hanging for a moment, though, only massaging the tight ring of muscles. Javik caught his earlobe between his lips and pulled. He’d just gone for the closest available part to tease, but judging by the sound Shepard made and the spike of pleasure Javik felt run through him, he liked it. Experimentally, Javik ran his tongue along the shell of his ear and that got him another deep rumble.

Distracted like this, he twitched when Shepard actually did push his fingers inside him, surprised by the sudden stretch. Shepard stopped immediately, but Javik pressed his backside into his hands, silently urging him to continue. This time, Shepard did not make him wait.

Too addled by the pleasure, Javik interrupted his exploration, sucking in air through his teeth, his hand moving even faster around them. Shepard captured him in another kiss, thrusting his tongue into Javik’s mouth, just as his fingers thrust deeper inside him. White-hot pleasure filled Javik’s vision as he came. He did not stop moving his hand, though, pumping them both, and clawing into the back of Shepard’s neck with the other. Shepard, too, didn’t miss a beat. Aftershocks of pleasure went through Javik’s system as Shepard’s fingers spread, curled, stroked his insides, almost feeling something akin to a second peak as Shepard’s own pleasure came to a boiling point when he spent himself over Javik’s hand, the sensation cursing through Javik by skin-to-skin transmission.

They sat in a shared buzz of content exhaustion until Shepard reached out and found a tissue to clean them with and closed his trousers again. Javik raised reluctantly from his lap, but Shepard grabbed him by the hips, pulled him back down on his thighs. Javik let him. He didn’t want to leave his presence yet.

Looking at Shepard now, feeling Shepard’s knuckles drag soft lines over his back, he didn’t think he wanted to leave him at all.

“I enjoyed this,” he said, knowing Shepard could not read him as a Prothean might have and that his face was more often than not set in a scowl. “I enjoy being in your presence.”

Javik could read only the shapes of memories and feelings, not fully-formed thoughts, but the smile on Shepard’s face told him that perhaps he was not alone in that.

“Me too. Wouldn’t mind a repeat, or a few.”

“Me neither.”

It was stupid to pretend otherwise, no matter his fear. Denying Shepard would not make Javik want him less.

“Well,” Shepard said, after a moment of silence, “if this is not motivation to save the galaxy, I don’t know what could be.”

Javik felt the corner of his mouth twitch.

“I think you can do it,” he said.

“Really?” Shepard raised his brows. “You haven’t been optimistic so far.”

“That is true. I was sure when I first saw how unprepared this cycle was that you were headed for disaster, but watching you has changed my mind. Your approach is so different to that of my people, yet in the end for all the decades of war – our world ended. I think through you, the people of your cycle have a chance.” He halted. “The two of us have a chance.”

“That means a lot coming from you,” Shepard said sternly.

Javik put his arms back around Shepard’s neck. It felt scandalous to lean in like this after the highest moment of passion was over, but he pressed their mouths briefly together, since he knew to Shepard this meant something different, yet also important. Shepard pulled him tightly into his arms and Javik determined that this spot, from now on, would be his favourite place in the new cycle.


End file.
